The Eighth Year
by hermioneeeeeeee
Summary: It all started with a simple seat on the train. But it couldn't just be a normal year at Hogwarts. No, there never would be.
1. Chapter 1

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 1**

 **All Aboard The Hogwarts Express!**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

It was the start of the eighth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and mostly everybody was returning from the previous year. To be honest, though, it was hard to blame the parents who weren't happy with the idea of their children being in a school that had been a battlefield, a home for monsters, an untrustworthy building, and an overall dangerous place. The Golden Trio were actually daring to believe that this year might be a 'normal' year after all.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna were sitting in the first cabin. All six of them were very loud and lively and anyone could hear the bubbly chatter erupting from the small space. However, they were surprisingly interrupted by none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Is there any room?" he asked bluntly.

"Not rea-" began Ron who was also being interrupted.

"Absolutely. Of course." started Hermione, "There's always room for change." she added after seeing her friends' discombobulated looks. Draco sat down by the window without a word of gratitude or, in fact, a word at all.

"So, going to be a quieter year." Ginny said.

"I suppose so. It's a shame that we won't have anything fun to look forward to." Luna stated.

"Well, I've heard that there will be quite a few balls this year." Ginny said, winking at a blushing Harry. Since they were the only ones who were actually in a relationship, everyone else was left in an uncomfortable silence.

"Hermione, you should really try dating. Besides Krum, you really have not had much of a love life." Ginny added out of the blue.

"No way. I'm not like you, Ginny. I'm not exactly easy to date because I'm actually rather solitary and a little too boring." Hermione responded.

"Stop it. Stop talking bad about yourself. You'll find someone who you'll love for the rest of your life." Ginny finished. Hermione slightly rolled her eyes and sat back in the seat.

Draco remained silent for the remainder of the trip, looking at the foggy hills and dark trees. That didn't mean that he wasn't listening, though. Of course, there had to be balls. Plenty of romantic opportunities that he was sure that he would not participate in. Ginny Weasley was like that. Too overconfident and bossy. Draco had never liked the girl. She and Harry Potter, of course. Two of his least favorite people combined into one couple. Okay, it wasn't like he _hated_ Harry _now_ but he had not made his life easy in the past. Draco didn't even know why he was coming back to Hogwarts, anyway. Barely any Slytherins were even coming anyway, it was only going to be Astoria and Blaise. That was it, though. He and Pansy had been in a relationship for a while but it had never gotten close and he didn't want to start now. He was mad that his father had sent him to King's Cross Station late and that the only cabin with just a little room contained his old enemies. He was good at ignoring them and their silly conversations, though. It was easy to be silent now. His mother was in a bad state and it didn't seem as if she was going to get any better any time soon.

The Hogwarts Express came to a stop. SCREECH! Nervous first years gathered around the half-giant Hagrid while second years and above were in queues for the Thestral carriages. Pretty much everyone in Year Eight could see the creatures. A lot of deaths had been seen during the Battle of Hogwarts and, especially for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, extra casualties had been seen during extra events. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna climbed into the seventh carriage and began to talk about becoming prefects or Heads.

"Here are my predictions," Ron began, "Hermione is Head Girl, Harry is Head Boy, Neville and Ginny are the Gryffindor Prefects, Luna and I dunno maybe Terry for Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff would be Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott, and Slytherin's are Astoria and Blaise." Ron finished.

"Good guesses. Let's see how many of them are actually right." Harry said. The carriage pulled up to the front of the castle and let the riders out.

"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Headmaster and Professor McGonagall announced. Loud cheers and whoops drowned out the sound of her last words.

"The Sorting Hat Ceremony will commence now. When I call your name, sit upon this chair. The rules are quite simple, sit until the Sorting Hat calls your house. You may ask for a specific house but, let the Sorting Hat decide. It knows best." she said to the first years. Everyone else only half-listened from then on.

"Time to announce the Heads and Prefects. Our Head Boy is Draco Malfoy and our Head Girl is Hermione Granger! Prefects for Gryffindor are Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley! Ravenclaw Prefects are Luna Lovegood and Anthony Goldstein! Hufflepuff's Prefects are Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott! Finally, the Slytherin Prefects are Blaise Zabini and Astoria Greengrass!" Professor McGonagall said happily. Ron shook his head in disbelief, how had Harry not been chosen as Head Boy? All of the Heads and Prefects followed Professor McGonagall while the other years were guided to their dormitories and commons by the Heads of Houses.

"There is something that I must add. You will all be in the same living quarters and not your House Commons or Dormitories. Of course, you are welcome to visit them anytime and can sleep in them if there is room. Girls sleep to the right and the boys sleep to the left. This common room is all of yours. Get unpacked and dinner will be served in half an hour." Professor McGonagall stepped out of the room and left them to it. Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Hannah, and Astoria walked to their dormitory. Draco, Neville, Anthony, Ernie, and Blaise walked to theirs.

"I knew Ron was going to be wrong about one thing!" Ginny shouted. Hermione laughed and sat down on the bed with her trunk beneath it.

"I'm going to say one thing. I know we Slytherins are always looked at as 'the bad guys' but I want to change that. I'm going to try and be less spiteful." Astoria said honestly. The other girls nodded in acceptance. Then they headed down to dinner.

Draco and Blaise immediately sat on two beds next to each other and started talking. Neville struck up a conversation with Anthony and Ernie and talked about school.

"I can't believe that you got Head Boy. With Hermione Granger, of course her! So now we're stuck with these losers. Great." Blaise said.

"Blaise, Hermione's not that bad." Draco said quietly.

"Guess not. Hey, say that again." Blaise said.

"Hermione's not that bad."

"Aha! You like her. You like Hermione Granger."

"Don't. She's not horrible. She gave me a seat on the train. It's better than what you guys did." Draco said, not wanting to admit that Hermione had been on his mind quite a bit over the summer.

"Hey, the cabin was full. Don't blame it on me. Besides, it not bad that you like someone other than Pansy Parkinson."

"Alright! I don't like her though. No way."

"You say that now." Blaise added under his breath, to quiet for Draco to hear.

The Great Feast had finished at the Great Hall and it still smelled amazing. Everyone was walking out of the room and up into their dormitories. Ginny, Luna, Hermione, Hannah, and Astoria all walked together and were happy to find that they had all become friends quickly. The boys remained in their groups of two and walked up separately. Blaise was still nagging Draco and Draco was still denying it.

"I saw the way you looked at her when you were eating! I can tell! Admit it!" Blaise said.

"Drop it! C'mon, you can't possibly think that!" Draco laughed.

"Who wants to play Truth or Dare?" Blaise yelled loudly to the other prefects and Head. They all shouted back a 'yes'. They gathered in the common room and started the game. Blaise was first, then Astoria, Ernie, Hannah, Neville, Ginny, Draco, Hermione, Anthony, and Luna last.

"Me first! Astoria, truth or dare?" Blaise started.

"Truth." she answered.

"Out of anyone in this room, who would you most likely save if we were all in a fire?"

"Oh, I don't know! Um, maybe you? I have known you for the longest." Astoria replied, blushing.

"Yes! Your turn, now."

"Okay. Ernie, truth or dare?" Astoria inquired.

"Dare!" he replied confidently.

"Hex or jinx your least favorite person in the room."

"Easy, Zabini."

"What? Why me?" Blaise asked, dramatically offended.

"Melofors!" Ernie shouted. With that, Blaise's head promptly turned into a pumpkin.

"What in the name of Salazar did you do to me, Macmillan?" roared Blaise.

"Pumpkin-head jinx! You don't look much different than before, considering that you were already such a pumpkin head." Ernie said smugly. Everybody laughed, including Blaise.

"Alright! Get it off now."

"Okay, if I have to. Finite Incantatem!" Ernie yelled.

"Hannah, truth or dare?" he asked.

"Truth." she replied.

"If I asked you to go to the first ball of this year with me, what would you say?" he asked.

"Oh, um. Yes? Yes. Yes! I would go with you!" Hannah answered, blushing.

"Great! Your turn."

"Neville, truth or dare?" Hannah asked.

"Truth." he answered.

"Would you rather spend a weekend in the Forbidden Forest or in the Shrieking Shack?" she asked.

"Forbidden Forest. At least it's not haunted or anything." he said.

"Ginny, truth or dare?" Neville asked.

"Dare! I like taking risks." Ginny replied.

"Okay, then. Do a hex on yourself and you have to stay like that for 30 seconds."

"Easy. Ducklifors!" she shouted, pointing her wand at herself. Ginny Weasley was now a duck. She tried to talk but all that came out were quacks. Everyone laughed, especially when she tried to fly but landed on her face. The 30 seconds was over and Ginny was now human again.

"That was fun!" Ginny said happily.

"Draco," Ginny started, "truth or dare?"

"Dare. Go ahead, do your best." Draco answered.

"Kiss your crush on the lips."

"Oh. Wow." Draco said shocked.

"I won't get offended! Just go for it!" Astoria added encouragingly after seeing Draco's uneasy look. Draco relaxed. He stood up and walked around even though he knew already who he was going to go for.

"To make it easier, we'll close our eyes." Ginny offered.

"Please do." Draco said. Ginny told everyone to close their eyes and everybody obeyed. Draco stopped and knelt down and cast a sound blocking charm so nobody except the person he was kissing could hear. He paused and then kissed Hermione on the lips. He could tell that she was surprised but, to _his_ surprise, she embraced it and kissed him back. They smiled at each other and then stopped. Draco lifted the spell after returning to his spot next to Hermione and waited for the others to come back to their senses.

"Who'd you kiss, Draco?" Blaise asked.

"Later." Draco answered, looking slightly happier than before.

"Hermione, truth or dare?" he asked, trying to make it look as if he hadn't just kissed her.

"Dare! I'll try." she said.

"I've got some Amortentia with me. You have to tell everybody what exactly you smell."

"Okay. I'm ready." Hermione said. Draco pulled out the bottle and gave it to her.

"Parchment, freshly mown grass, mint, and something else. It smells like rain water, but it's sweet. Can something smell cold? It smells sort of 'cold'." Hermione said, handing the bottle back to Draco, thinking that she knew what she smelled.

"Anthony, truth or dare?" Hermione asked.

"Truth please!" Anthony replied.

"Did you want to come back to Hogwarts after the battle?"

"Yes. It might've been dangerous but, that's what makes it so much fun. You never know what you'll experience."

"Luna, truth or dare?" Anthony asked.

"Dare." Luna answered.

"I've got this Sorting Hat and you need to put it on and see what other house you could be in. It's not the same sorting hat, though." Anthony said. Luna put it on and waited for her result.

"GRYFFINDOR!" it exclaimed loudly. Luna looked happy and not surprised.

"Blaise, truth or dare?" Luna asked.

"Dare. Just, don't make me do anything weird." Blaise said.

"Well, that's the whole point of a dare! To look funny and be weird. Your dare is to put these Spectrespecs on and say 'I believe in wrackspurts!'" Luna said, handing him her pair of Spectrespecs. Blaise raised an eyebrow but took them anyway. His vision was different but, he could see a little wrackspurt in the corner of the room.

"I BELIEVE IN WRACKSPURTS!" Blaise shouted. The others laughed and he handed them back to Luna.

"Well, that was fun." Neville said. Everybody else nodded.

"It's really late, guys. I'm going to bed." Astoria said. The boys dragged themselves up the stairs. All of them except Blaise and Draco. The girls followed Astoria but Hermione lingered behind. Blaise looked surprised but then realized what exactly was going on.

"I knew it." Blaise said triumphantly to Draco.

"Yes. You get all the credit for this." Draco said. Hermione moved closer to the two boys and stood next to Draco.

"This is unexpected." Blaise said.

"I am glad, though. I'm going to bed, see you later Draco." Blaise called, leaving the two alone.

"So." he said.

"So." she said.

"Are we going to be a-"

"A couple? I'd love to be."

"Yes! This is perfect! I was almost thinking that you would say no."

"Turns out that Ginny was right. She normally is. I'm glad she was this time, though. Good night!"

"Wait a minute! Come back here!"

"Alright." Hermione walked back to Draco and the two kissed again before returning to their respective dormitories, neither of them being able to wait to see each other the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 2**

 **First Day Back**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

It was breakfast in the Great Hall and everyone was getting their schedules. It was nice that there were no longer four tables designated to each house but four tables where anyone could sit where they wanted to. Ginny had given Hermione a hard time about dating a Slytherin but had finally stopped teasing her friend after seeing that Hermione wasn't kidding and really did like him. She and Draco were sitting next to each other across from a surprised Harry and a happy Ginny. Ron, meanwhile, was staring at both of them with wide eyes.

"Anything funny and you're dead, Malfoy." Ron said.

"Relax! He's not going to do anything to hurt me." Hermione said.

"Better not." Ron said under his breath with a hint of jealousy. He and Hermione had been through so much together but Snakeboy had to come and take her away. It wasn't as if Ron had made it clear that he wanted to be in a relationship with Hermione but, he was still jealous. Since the new rule about Heads and Prefects living together, he wouldn't have much time to confess his mixed-up feelings for her.

"Isn't it great, Harry?" Ginny asked, "Hermione's got a boyfriend!"

"Yeah, it is great! You were right about her finding someone special." Harry said smiling.

"Just wait until he leaves you and breaks your heart." Ron added, snarling.

"Ron, are you okay?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"No. I'm not! I'm not okay!" Ron answered.

"Hey, if this is about us then-" Draco started.

"YEAH! IT IS ABOUT YOU!" Ron shouted, causing a few heads to turn.

"You have to come in and ruin everything, don't you!" he continued.

"Ron-" Hermione began.

"Don't. Why him, Hermione? Why the guy who bullied you for years? The guy who made your life miserable. I don't get it!" he ranted.

"I'm trying to change. Honestly I am. Hermione's going to help me and I promise that I won't do anything bad to her." Draco said.

"I've liked you for years but haven't been brave enough to say it. Well, I'm saying it now. Hermione, I love you and I always will. Will you be my girlfriend?" Ron asked.

"No! I can't be! I'm with Draco. If you really liked me that much then you would have asked me before." Hermione said.

"I see. You're with him then. I'll be here whenever he decides to leave you crying on the floor." Ron said and got up to leave. Hermione was on the verge of tears when Ginny came to the rescue.

"Don't mind him. He's just jealous. Honestly, Hermione, you're one of the nicest people I know and you haven't done anything wrong." Ginny said leaning over to Hermione's side of the table.

"Attention! Your Heads of Houses will be handing out schedules." Professor McGonagall announced. With a flick of their wands, the House Heads gave the students their schedules.

"What about Ron's?" Hermione asked.

"Don't worry, I'll give it to him." Ginny said. Hermione looked down at her schedule realizing that there were really only 14 eighth years. All of their schedules would be the same then. Charms, potions, defense against the dark arts, herbology, history of magic, and transfiguration.

"Everyone is dismissed! Eighth years, stay behind." Professor McGonagall called. She waited until everybody was done filtering out and then proceeded to talk to the eighth years.

"There is a ball coming up for only your year. The Autumn Ball is on the 13th of September and there will be Hogsmeade trips before that date. It will be a Masquerade Ball and we will make sure that no one will be able to tell exactly who anyone is. You may get ready together but you won't know who your partner is, everyone will enter at the same time and we teachers will take care of the rest. There is one way how you can figure out who is who, however. You must figure this out for yourselves, though! Enjoy yourselves and you are also dismissed!" Professor McGonagall finished.

"No! We can't choose partners!" Draco wailed.

"Don't worry. I'm sure there will be other balls. Ginny, let's take the others dress shopping." Hermione said.

"Great! I want to know how you can figure out who is who." Ginny said.

"I think I know." Hermione said, blushing.

"What?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

"You have to kiss them." Hermione answered.

"I just hope I don't get someone bad." Draco said.

"That's rude." Hermione said.

"What lesson have you guys got first?" Harry asked suddenly.

"We've got Charms." Hermione replied, pointing to her and Draco.

"Oh. So does Ron." Ginny added with a slight frown.

"Well we've got Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry said, gesturing to him and Ginny.

"See you later!" Ginny said, linking her arm with Harry's. Hermione waved and walked to Charms with Draco.

The Charms classroom had changed a bit. Professor Flitwick was shuffling through some papers as the class came in.

"What could we possibly learn? You probably know all of the spells in the history of the wizarding world, Hermione." Draco said.

"I agree with the first part but disagree with the last." Hermione told him. Professor Flitwick seemed to be listening and said,

"We will actually be dueling today."

"That will be fun, won't it?" Hermione said.

"Yeah, it will be. I just hope that I don't go against you." Draco said, smiling. The rest of the class came in and waited for instructions. Professor Flitwick told the rest of the class about what they were doing in the class. With a swish of his wand, two columns of names appeared.

"These are your partners." he said. The class looked at the list.

Hermione Blaise

Ron Draco

Neville Terry

Ernie Luna

Justin Ginny

Hannah Anthony

Harry Astoria

"Blaise, you've gotta be feeling nervous." Draco said to his best friend.

"Of course I am! I'll do my best but she's obviously gonna beat me." Blaise said.

"You are allowed to use any spells that will not severely injure your opponent. Begin!" Professor Flitwick said. Hermione and Blaise stepped up and went into the center of the room.

"Flipendo! Rictusempra!" Hermione shouted rapidly.

"Le-" Blaise started.

"Expelliarmus! Incarcerous!" Hermione yelled before Blaise could start.

"Stupefy!" Blaise shouted quickly, even though he was wrapped in tight ropes. Hermione began to block it but it was too late. The spell slammed her into the bookshelf, hitting it hard. The shelf shook and books began to fall down. She wasn't able to stop the first few but managed to recover with a simple Protego. She got up again and aimed at Blaise.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione said. Blaise immediately went stiff and dropped to the floor. Everybody cheered at the win and Hermione counteracted her spell so that Blaise could move again. They shook hands and sat down.

"You okay?" Draco asked nervously.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I cast an Episkey charm so the pain isn't bad." Hermione said.

"My turn. I'm gonna beat Weasel." Draco said confidently.

"Good luck!" Hermione called as he walked out. Ron and Draco, she thought, this would be an interesting duel.

"STUPEFY!" Ron shouted. It hit Draco right in the chest and he flew across the room and was slammed against the wall. Draco groped around for his wand but couldn't find it because Ron had cast a non-verbal Expelliarmus.

"Sectusempra!" Ron yelled and Draco screamed out in pain. Ron had obviously won but nobody cheered for him.

"Mr. Weasley! No spells that will severely injure your opponent!" Professor Flitwick shouted.

"Miss Granger, take Mr. Malfoy to Madam Pomfrey's." he added. Hermione vigorously nodded her head and cast a levitating spell. When she had exited the classroom, she carefully kissed Draco's forehead. She walked into the nurse's room and waited for Madam Pomfrey.

"Oh, heavens! A sectusempra curse? Am I right?" Madam Pomfrey asked. Hermione just nodded her head.

"Would you like to stay with him?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Yes. Please." Hermione answered. Madam Pomfrey sent a patronus to Professor Flitwick to tell him that Hermione would not be there for the rest of the class. She put Draco into a hospital bed and went off to fetch some medicine. Hermione sat on the stool next to him and held his hand while she waited.

"Episkey." Madam Pomfrey said. The wounds healed a little bit but not enough. She took the blankets off and sopped up the blood with some cloth. She muttered a spell to make them dry and rubbed some potion on the cuts.

"They'll take about five minutes to work and then he'll be awake soon." Madam Pomfrey said. Hermione thanked her and stayed by Draco's side.

It was lunch now and everybody was talking about what happened in Charms.

"That was horrible! He could've died!" Ginny insisted.

"Well, the good thing is that I'm fine now." Draco said. Hermione rested her head on his shoulder and smiled up at him.


	3. Chapter 3

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 3**

 **Hogsmeade**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

"Dress shopping today!" Ginny squealed. Hermione, Ginny, Astoria, Hannah, and Luna were all going to shop together to find dresses for the Autumn Ball.

"It's too bad that we won't be able to know who our partners are." Astoria sighed.

"Hermione knows a way!" Ginny said.

"Oh. I think that you have to kiss your partner in order to figure out who it is. But that's purely a guess. I just happened to see Professor McGonagall shuffle through some papers and I was walking by and then I saw a jumble of words that looked like 'kiss partner'. So, yeah." Hermione said.

"Oh! Sneaky." Astoria said.

"Let's go!" Hannah said and the girls rushed off to get in line.

Everyone was at Hogsmeade now.

"Oh! It's snowing." Luna said as white flakes adorned her hair.

"I know the best place to get dresses." Ginny said.

"Where?" Hannah asked.

"Occasions. It's got plenty of dresses and the prices are pretty good." Ginny responded. The group walked together to the store and went inside.

"Hello! Welcome to Occasions! My name is Genevieve and I will be assisting you lovely ladies today." Genevieve said.

"Please walk through this scanner. It lets you know what colors would suit you best." she continued. Ginny went first, then Hermione, Luna, Astoria, and Hannah. Their colors popped up on the screen next to their names.

Ginny Red Black Navy Grey

Hermione Navy Red Emerald Black Grey

Luna Sapphire Black Silver Grey

Astoria Green Black Silver Grey

Hannah Yellow Gold Black Grey

Genevieve waved her wand and five racks of dresses appeared with a selection of the chosen colors. Each girl took a rack and looked at all of the labels.

"They are organized by price. If you need any help, I will be over at my desk. Enjoy!" she said and disappeared behind many racks of clothes.

"Let's all choose a dress that we like the most, regardless of price, and try it on and then we'll all give feedback." Hermione suggested. The others nodded. Ginny chose a red dress that went down below her knee and had thin straps. She checked the label and it read:

Color: Fireflower  
Price: 65 Galleons  
Specialties: grows with the wearer, protection against 'Expelliarmus', never rips or fades

Ginny put it on immediately. Hermione looked through her rack of dresses and selected a navy dress that went down to the floor and was sleeveless. The dress's tag looked different from a muggle one so she checked it to make sure that the dress was fine.

Color: Midnight Sea  
Price: 67 Galleons  
Specialties: grows with the wearer, protection against fire and water, never tears or shrinks

Hermione changed into it and smiled. Luna chose a dress that caught her eye and took a look at the price tag to find that the tag had more than just a price on it.

Color: Sapphire Waves  
Price: 70 Galleons  
Specialties: grows with the wearer, protection against wrackspurts, never will get lost

Luna waved her wand to put it on and admired the transparent, mesh long sleeves and over-floor length skirt. This was it. Meanwhile, Astoria was checking the label on a green and black sleeveless knee-length dress.

Color: Salazar's Gem  
Price: 62 Galleons  
Specialties: grows with the wearer, protection against minor hexes, never tears

Finally, Hannah was garbed in a vibrant yellow dress and was currently checking the label on her attire.

Color: Sunflower  
Price: 66 Galleons  
Specialties: grows with the wearer, protection against water, never fades or gets dirty

The girls all gathered together and marveled at each other's choices.

"Ginny, that suits you so well!"

"Hermione looks fabulous!"

"That one is perfect, Luna!"

"I wish that I looked as good in green as Astoria!"

"Yellow is so Hannah's color!"

Over 300 Galeons later, the girls exited Occasions and stood out in the snow with their dresses safe under dress-covers.

"I can't wait to show the boys!" exclaimed Ginny.

"I know! It's a shame that the teachers will have to alter everyone's gowns so that no one knows who someone is." Astoria said.

"I'm glad that I got my dress. It even has protection against wrackspurts! It's like this dress was made for me." Luna gushed. Meanwhile, as the girls were talking about makeup and hair, the boys were having trouble choosing the right robes. The rowdy conversation sounded a bit like this:

"Too black."

"Well, how many shades of black are there?"

"Does this matter?"

"Yeah, we're all going to look different anyway because of the teacher's spell thing."

"He's right."

"I still want to look decent."

"Yeah, some of us actually have girlfriends."

"No need to rub it in!"

"Shove off."

"Rude!"

"Hey!"

"Stop it."

"Colors hate me."

"I agree, there's no way that you can look okay in any color besides black."

"And you can?"

"Is anyone actually trying anything on?"

"I bet the girls are doing this really logically."

"Stop thinking about them! Worry about yourself."

"I've had more things to worry about than you."

"Like you can compare yourself to moi."

"I can and I did."

The rest of the hour was spent talking loudly and quietly trying on. Finally, the boys were ready. They walked out to meet the girls.

"You did show up after all! It only took you a thousand years." Ginny complained.

"We didn't take that long!" Harry said. The two playfully argued for a little while before Draco asked a question.

"Did you guys get pictures?" he asked. Ginny handed him a wizard photograph of all five of them smiling with their dresses on. She saw him eyeing Hermione carefully as if looking at her dress would help him figure out what she would look like. Professor McGonagall called everybody back to the carriages and the eighth years all rode back to Hogwarts.

"I can't wait until the ball." Draco whisper-said into Hermione's hair. The two embraced before separating into their own dormitories.


	4. Chapter 4

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 4**

 **The Autumn Ball**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

 **A/N: Try to guess who the partners are before I tell you. Message me if you figured it out!**

The girls dormitory was in a state. A messy one. Hair brushes were everywhere and makeup kits were sprawled out on beds. Finishing touches were being added and everything was looking impeccable. The girls stepped out and looked at their reflections in the mirror. Ginny's hair was in simple waves with a black rosette. Hermione had curls with black pearls ornately weaved into her hair. Luna's blond hair was crimped lightly with no extras (her request). Astoria's dark hair was pulled back into a sleek knot with silver ribbons. Hannah's hair was down with no waves or curls and a large sunflower by her ear. The boys came down and practically gawked at the females in the room. They had all ended up in a solid color robe and were surprised at how much effort the girls had put in. Draco was in deep green, Blaise in black, Anthony in navy, Ernie in dark gold, and Neville in scarlet. They all walked into the Great Hall together.

"Eighth years! Welcome to the Autumn Ball! We teachers will now be revealing how this Wizard Masquerade Ball works. We are going to cast an extreme darkening spell, powerful enough so that no spell will be able to counteract it unless performed by a teacher. I know that a few of you already know how to figure out who you will be dancing with. Also, your voices will all be slightly altered so that none of you can tell by voice either. Everyone is required to dance with a partner. Have fun!" Professor McGonagall said. The room went immediately pitch black and the crowd could feel a Disperse Spell being activated. The music started and everyone began to make their way around to a partner. Ginny, Hermione, Luna, Astoria, and Hannah were all swept off by a mystery person and began to dance.

Ginny waltzed with a gentle partner who was good at dancing and was rather shy. Remembering Hermione's idea, she quickly pecked the dancer on the ear and waited to see who her partner was. The two glowed and everybody looked towards the light to see a lit up Ginny and Terry Boot. Ginny smiled sheepishly as the room returned to its former darkness and could hear Terry mumbling excitedly. Hermione was right, she usually was.

Hermione swayed side to side with an unidentifiable dancer. He was alright at dancing, besides the occasional foot brought down on hers. She was glad to see that Ginny had remembered the trick and she tried it herself. A quick kiss on the cheek and the glow made Hermione and Neville Longbottom light up. She smiled and blushed fiercely but continued to dance with him for the rest of the dance.

Luna danced with a person who moved rather stiffly. She wondered if he was angry, he felt angry. She tried to console him by dancing slowly and gently before she remembered what Hermione had told her. Trying to fight the embarrassment, Luna stepped up to kiss him slightly and was surprised by a warm glow that surrounded her and Ron Weasley. Ron looked surprised and disappointed. Luna could tell from his eyes. She proceeded to talk to him.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Nothing."  
"Obviously something is wrong."  
"Fine! I wanted to be with Hermione, okay? Ever since she and Draco have started dating, I've felt jealous."  
"She is a very nice girl. Hermione is actually one of my best friends."  
"Could you tell her how I feel?"  
"I'll do my best to remember. Sometimes the wrackspurts make my memory go funny and my brain sleeps for a little while."  
Since it was dark, Luna couldn't see the rude face that Ron made.

Astoria was having fun with her dancer. He was elegant and talented at dancing, the perfect partner to have at a ball. As fast as possible, she kissed the chin of her partner and found a glow surrounding her. Her partner was none other than Ernie Macmillan. Ernie seemed as surprised as Astoria but seemed to be happy to dance with her. She was glad that he didn't seem prejudiced against her, seeing as she was a Slytherin. She danced with him happily and was wondering if she maybe had found a little spark in her.

Hannah's partner was a smooth dancer. He was light on his feet, gentle, and strong all at the same time. She was enjoying herself very much. She felt rather confident as she remembered what Hermione had told her and the other girls and went straight for the lips. His lips crashed against hers and a light glow surrounded her and Draco Malfoy. She pulled apart from the surprise. She smiled at him and pulled him in for another kiss before it went dark again. Too dark too see an upset Hermione leaving the ball.

Ginny decided to take a break from dancing and headed out into the corridor to get some fresh air when she saw a rather distressing sight. Hermione was practically sobbing with her head between her knees.  
"Hermione! What on earth is going on?" Ginny asked, getting down onto her knees.  
"Drmmhhhmm mhh Hanmmnnma murr neeeemmmee." she mumbled.  
"Hermione, I can't understand you." Ginny tried to say as gently as possible.  
"Draco and Hannah were kissing! They were partners and she kissed him!" Hermione wailed.  
"What! He might not have wanted to, though. He didn't know it was Hannah."  
"But after the first one, they kissed again and he seemed to be enjoying it!"  
"I'll talk to him."  
"NO! Don't, Ginny. Don't make it worse."  
As much as Ginny wanted to respect her friend's request, she felt as if she had to drag Draco and Hannah out here. She did. A minute later, a disgruntled Hannah and confused Draco were out in the corridor as well.  
"Hermione! Are you-"  
"DON'T TALK TO ME!" Hermione yelled.  
"I-"  
"YOU KKNOW PERFECTLY WELL WHAT YOU WERE DOING!"  
"I was da-"  
"YOU AND HANNAH WERE KISSING! I SAW YOU!"  
"I didn't want to! Honestly! She pulled me in to kiss her again, I didn't even know she was going to in the first place!"  
"And I should trust you?"  
"Yes! Please! Ginny, get some Veritaserum! Anything!"  
Ginny ran off in search of the truth serum, leaving the three alone.  
"I don't see why you're mad at me. I only did what you said." Hannah said, making a move to take Draco's hand and go.  
"I understand the first kiss! I already told you that! You knew that I was dating him, though and you kissed him again!" Hermione insisted. Hannah started to talk again but was interrupted by Ginny entering with some Veritaserum. She quickly splashed some on to both Hannah and Draco and motioned to Hermione to begin asking questions.  
"Do you like Hannah Abbot?" she asked Draco.  
"No. I like Hermione Granger."  
"Do you like Draco Malfoy?" she asked Hannah.  
"Yeah. He's really good at dancing. And kissing."  
"Would you kiss Hannah again?"  
"No."  
"Would you kiss Draco again?"  
"Absolutely."  
Hermione stopped asking questions and let the Veritaserum wear off. Draco and Hannah were both coming to their senses again.  
"Let's go, Draco." Hannah said.  
"No! For Merlin's sake, Hannah, I don't like you!" Draco said exasperatedly.  
"Why not? I'm good at dancing and kissing and-"  
"I'm with Hermione, Hannah. You can't compare yourself to anyone else, especially not to her."  
Hannah went back into the Great Hall to find another partner. Hermione looked relieved to see that Draco really didn't like Hannah. She took his hand and the two walked back into the ballroom with Ginny following suit.

The Autumn Ball had finished and the lights came back on to reveal everybody's partners, if they hadn't figured out how to already.

"I hope you have all had a lovely evening. You may go back to your common rooms. Thank you very much!" Professor McGonagall said. Groups of people flooded out of the Great Hall and upstairs. Hermione found Ginny, Luna, and Astoria so that she could tell them about Hannah.

"She kissed him the first time to figure out who it was but then, she kissed him again!" Hermione said. Except for Ginny, they all gasped.

"That's not right!" Astoria said.

"She shouldn't have kissed him again." Luna noted.

"Thanks, guys. I'm glad you understand." Hermione said.

"I know this is rather Slytherin-y but, we could always just ignore her in the common rooms and dormitories." Astoria suggested.

"We don't need to do that. Only if she keeps flirting." Hermione replied. Astoria nodded, glad that Hermione had even thought about her idea.

"Oh! Hermione, I have a message from Ron. he wanted me to tell you that he really loves you very much and is sad that he couldn't communicate his feeling earlier." Luna said.

"Thanks, Luna. But I still don't want to be his girlfriend." Hermione said.

"Let's go to the common room." Luna suggested.

"I'm actually going to go spend some time with Harry. Anyone want to come to the Gryffindor Commons?" Ginny asked.

"Thanks but, I think I'll head to the Slytherin Commons. I'll ask Draco and Blaise if they want to come." Astoria said.

"Ginny, I'll go with you." Luna offered.

"I'll go with Astoria, then." Hermione said. The girls split up for the rest of the evening.

Hermione and Astoria walked up to the Heads and Prefects Commons to find Draco and Blaise.

"I'm so glad that you decided to come with me. I thought for sure that you would go back to Gryffindor." Astoria said.

"I'm going to try something new. After all, I better get used to Slytherin because I'm dating Draco." Hermione smiled.

"Did you have fun at the ball?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, lot of fun. I actually think that I might like my partner." Astoria said, turning pink.

"Oh! Who?" Hermione asked again, smiling.

"Ernie Macmillan. I never would have thought that I'd like him." Astoria said. The girls stopped talking as they entered the Heads and Prefects Commons. Draco appeared to be talking to Blaise about what happened with him and Hannah.

"Hey! We're going down to the Slytherin Commons, are you coming or not?" Astoria said.

"Sure, we'll join you." Blaise said, getting off of the couch. Draco walked over to Hermione and held her hand. The two walked down to the Slytherin Commons as Blaise and Astoria conversed about the ball. Astoria said the password and stepped through the portrait hole. It was sadly quiet. Draco, Blaise and Astoria were the only ones there and the other years were each in their own year's common room.

"It's too bad that we're the only ones who came back." Astoria said.

"Hogwarts seems a lot smaller. Not a lot of people came back for the eighth year. The numbers for each house are definitely uneven." Hermione said.

"For Gryffindor, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Neville came back. For Hufflepuff, Justin, Ernie, and Hannah came back. For Ravenclaw, Luna, Terry, and Anthony came back and it's just us for Slytherin. You can obviously see that Gryffindor had the most." Blaise counted.

"Yeah. I mean, I like space but this is just emptiness." Draco said.

"Well, do you want to stay here or go back up to the Heads and Prefects Commons?" Blaise asked everyone.

"Here. I don't want to see Hannah for the rest of the night." Hermione answered.

"Okay. Hey, Blaise, who did you dance with?" Astoria asked.

"Remember, there's an uneven number of people. There are more boys than girls so some of the partners didn't work. I danced with Harry Potter first, actually. Then I got to dance with a girl. Luna Lovegood. She's an interesting person. She might think funny but, she is a nice girl." Blaise said. They spent the rest of the night talking about the night and when it was finally time for bed, the common room didn't seem so empty after all.


	5. Chapter 5

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 5**

 **The Wrath of a Lover**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

It was a Saturday evening and two people were hatching a plan. Ron was still trying to get Hermione to date him. However, his so-called love was clouding his vison and this plan seemed to be taking it five steps too far. His plan was to sling Hermione into a sack and take her into the Forbidden Forest and use the Sectusempra curse on her and leave her by one of the trees and pretend that he was Draco hurting her. He and Hannah had talked together about their plans and, while Hermione was out in the Forbidden Forest, Hannah would be able to flirt freely with Draco. Then, he would come and get her later and pretend to save her as Ron. It was very risky and he could kill her but he wasn't himself anymore. He was going to do whatever it took to get her back.

Hannah was still angry from yesterday. She hadn't done anything wrong! She really did like Draco, even though if it was only because of his looks and skills of kissing. While Hermione was bleeding in the Forbidden Forest, she would go find Draco and flirt with him to try and get him to like her. She knew what she and Ron were doing was wrong and bad but they couldn't help it. Love certainly was blinding.

Hermione, Ginny, and Luna were all questioning Astoria about Ernie. The two had already met up that day and the girls, particularly Ginny, wanted to know if anything serious was going on.

"Are you dating?" Ginny asked, cutting straight to the point.

"No." Astoria answered.

"Do you want to?" Hermione asked.

"Yes."

"Have you kissed?"

"Yes."

"Do you think that you will date?"

"Maybe."

Three questions later, the girls had finished.

"Let's go back to the common room. Ernie might be there!" Ginny teased.

"Okay! Just don't do anything." Astoria said, knowing Ginny well enough now to know that Ginny could be a little forceful.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley promises not to do anything to force your relationship." Ginny said loudly as she entered the common room.

"Who's relationship?" a confused Ernie asked.

"Now you've done it, Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed. Astoria sat down with her head between her knees, uncontrollably blushing.

"Oh, Astoria! I've been meaning to ask you something." Ernie said. Astoria stood up.

"Me too. You go first, though." Astoria said nervously.

"I had so much fun yesterday with you and today was even better. I'd like to keep enjoying my time with you. Would you want to be my girlfriend?" Ernie asked anxiously.

"YES!" Astoria squealed and started to hug and kiss her new boyfriend.

"Well done, Ginny." Luna congratulated. Ginny winked at Hermione and the girls walked out and left the new couple alone in the common room.

Ron and Hannah were having a heated discussion about the plan.

"Do you want to do this or not?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Then stop being so nervous."

"Me? Nervous?"

"Yeah, you."

"You're the one trying to kill someone!"

"Kill? I'm trying to get her to date me! Idiot!"

"Don't call me an idiot."

"I came up with the plan."

"I suggested that we work together."

"Like teamwork solves everything."

"Shut it!"

"You shut it!"

"I see why Hermione doesn't like you anymore."

The two stopped arguing, seeing that it was pointless to keep talking. It was late now and it was already pretty dark outside. The plan was going to put into effect.

"Alright. I need to find Hermione." Ron said.

"Okay. She's probably with your sister. She always is." Hannah said. They crept along the hallways until they found Hermione. Ginny was there with her. An invisible Ron crept out with his invisible sack and swept Hermione up into it. Ginny screamed. Hermione shouted. Ginny ran to tell someone. Hannah hid and waited until the time was right to find Draco.

Ginny ran into the common room to find all of the Heads and Prefects together.

"Hermione's gone! She just disappeared! I heard her shout but, I don't know where she is!" Ginny panted.

"What? You're probably overreacting She might've left to go to the bathroom or something." Blaise said. Ginny, doubting herself, agreed and sat down to wait for her friend to come back. It didn't sound right that Hermione would just disappear and shout for help when all she needed to do was go to the bathroom but then again, the castle was pretty dark and Ginny was tired. She went to bed and the other girls followed her.

"HELP! PLEASE! WHAT'S GOING ON?" Hermione screamed. Before she knew it, she was dumped out of the sack and rolled into the Forbidden Forest. The person aimed their wand at her and uttered a spell that sounded like a curse.

"Sectusempra!" Ron whispered. Hermione's blood began to immediately spill onto the forest's floor. Ron cast the curse again to make sure that her wounds would be bad. He tied her against a tree so that she couldn't move.

"Who? Are you?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Draco Malfoy." Ron said barely convincingly. Hermione started to sob but then saw a flash of red hair as the person ran away. Why would Ron do this? It made her want to scream out in anger but she couldn't talk. Or move. She was going to die here, wasn't she? She closed her eyes and tried to soothe her aching body...

Hannah snuck out of the broomstick cupboard that she was hiding in and went into the Heads and Prefects commons to find Draco. Luckily for her, Draco was the only person still awake.

"Draco!" she called.

"Hermione? Is that you?" Draco called.

"No. Better! It's Hannah."

"Go away."

Hannah didn't go away. She stepped closer and proceeded to kiss him. Out of surprise, Draco fell over as Hannah's lips moved over his. Draco tried to push her off but it was like trying to pry a barnacle off of a whale. Hannah finished kissing him.

"What the Helga was that?"

"It was a kiss! Listen, I really like you and I want you to be my boyfriend. Yes?"

"NO! What's wrong with you? You don't just ambush someone and ask them to be your boyfriend! I'll never date you! Never! Now go away and get off of me."

Hannah clung on and rested her head near his. Draco reached for his wand and blasted her off. He went up to the dormitories and left Hannah alone. Before lying down, he looked out the window. His view was perfect; the Forbidden Forest was all lit up by the moon. He paused. What was that figure down there? He looked closer. The lump was unmoving. His vision was good enough to see that the creature had hair. Maybe it was a trapped unicorn. He raced out of the common room and out of the castle.

Ron looked at the time. He had to get a move on! He ran out of the castle and went outside. It was strange, though. Another person was there already. The loophole in the plan was too big and someone had beaten him to it. The real Draco Malfoy.

It wasn't a unicorn at all. It was Hermione! Ginny was right, she was in trouble. She was bleeding a lot. A dangerous amount of blood was on the floor. Was she trying to commit suicide? Why would she be here?

"YOU!" Ron bellowed.

"What the? What are you doing here?" Draco asked.

"Trying to save her life!"

"Well, it's okay. I'm here."

"That's not the point! I was supposed to save her!"

"What do you mean 'supposed to'?"

"It was my plan."

"Plan?"

"Plan to get her to like me! I did this, okay? I used Sectusempra on her and tied her to a tree! I made it look as if you had done this and I was supposed to come in and save her. The hero. So she would dump you and date me."

"ARE YOU CRAZY? SHE COULD BE DEAD BECAUSE OF YOUR JEALOUSY!"

"I realize that now."

"YOU NEEDED TO REALIZE THAT BEFORE!" Draco yelled, infuriated. He untied the ropes and cast a quick spell to help heal her wounds a little bit. He picked her up and carried her back to the castle. Ron followed him up to the common room feeling guilty.

Ginny couldn't sleep. Hermione hadn't returned yet and Ginny was getting nervous. She put on her dressing gown and went into the common room. Surprisingly, Hannah was on the ground of the common room.

"Hannah?"

"What?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Basically, your brother and I had a plan. He put Hermione into a sack and carried her into the Forbidden Forest. He acted as if he was Draco and used a curse on her to make her bleed. He left her there for a little while and was going to save her later. I was meant to find Draco and have my chance at getting him to like me. I know that that sounds wrong now. Before you yell at me, I'm sorry." Hannah explained. Ginny had a feeling that Hannah wasn't sorry. Just then, Ron, Draco, and an unconscious Hermione entered the room. Ginny apologized early for everyone trying to sleep and began to scream at Hannah and her brother.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? YOU TRIED TO KILL ONE OF YOUR BEST FRIENDS JUST SO YOU COULD DATE HER? AND YOU! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? IF YOU KNOW THAT YOUR CRUSH IS ALREADY DATING, YOU DON'T TRY AND GET THEM TO LIKE YOU! SO NOW MY BEST FRIEND MIGHT BE DEAD JUST BECAUSE YOU TWO WERE JEALOUS. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" Ginny shouted, yelled, and screamed. Everybody was awake now. However, none of them were mad because they saw Hermione lying unconscious on the floor. They were all staring angrily at Hannah and Ron. Draco and Ginny were tending to Hermione's scars with Essence of Murtlap and some healing spells. Soon, the wounds were healed but Hermione still wasn't awake.

"No offence guys but, could you leave? I don't think having a crowd would be great for Hermione." Draco said. Everyone went back to bed.

"No, Ginny. You can stay." he said quietly. Ginny smiled.

"She's not waking up. What should we do?" Draco asked.

"I don't know." Ginny said. They sat in silence. Then, Draco bent down and kissed Hermione. Ginny smirked as Hermione's eyes fluttered open. They both hugged her, relieved.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Ginny exclaimed.

"We were so worried!" Draco said.

"What happened?" Hermione asked groggily.

"We'll explain in the morning." Ginny said, going up to bed. Draco picked Hermione up and set her on the couch. He walked up the stairs to his dormitory.

"Wait." Hermione said as loudly as she could. Draco paused and came back down.

"Can you stay with me?" she asked. Draco obliged and laid down on the couch with her and the two fell asleep together peacefully.


	6. Chapter 6

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 6**

 **Sunday, Monday**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

Hermione was tired and her body was still sore from last night. She knew that she and Draco had missed breakfast but she didn't care. She opened an eye to see a blob of red hair in front of her.

"Hello! You're awake now. Good." Ginny said. Draco lifted his head off of Hermione's side. Hermione and Draco untangled themselves from each other and got up.

"You guys are such a cute couple." Ginny stated with a smile. They walked to their separate dormitories to change into clean clothes. When they came back, the other prefects, besides Hannah, were waiting for them with some news.

"We talked to Professor McGonagall. Ron is suspended and Hannah is no longer prefect." Astoria said.

"Who is?" Hermione asked.

"Professor McGonagall made an exception for the boy, girl prefect rule. Seeing as there are no other Hufflepuff girls, Justin Finch-Fletchley is the other prefect." Blaise explained.

"Alright." Draco said.

"We've all decided that we aren't going to talk to Hannah anymore. I mean, Ron is family so I kind of have to speak to him but Mum is really mad that he's at home and told me that she was already raging at him." Ginny said. Seeing as it was a nice day, they all decided to wake a walk around the Black Lake and talk. When they were in the corridor, however, they saw an angry Hannah.

"Where are you going?" Blaise asked.

"Home. I'm leaving Hogwarts; everybody keeps saying mean things behind my back and it's awful. Besides, we aren't learning anything useful in class. Eighth year turned out to be a redo of seventh year except with no Death Eaters and a lot less people. Guess you'll never have to deal with me again." Hannah fumed.

"Hannah, wait. This won't change your mind but, I liked having you as a friend. You are a nice person and I understand that jealousy can change a person a lot." Hermione said gently, surprising herself and her friends.

"I'm still leaving but, thank you." Hannah said, giving Hermione a slight smile and leaving to go pack her bags.

"What was that all about?" Draco asked.

"I just didn't want to leave things like that." Hermione said. The others nodded and smiled at her. They walked back to the common room to enjoy the rest of their Sunday afternoon.

It was Monday today and the eighth years were all in Defense Against the Dark Arts. They had never had a permanent Defense Against the Dark Arts but, Hogwarts had finally gotten a teacher. Professor Allando was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts. It seemed that he really did know what he was doing and was a skilled and fair teacher. Professor Allando was actually making it fun, as well. He would never be like Remus Lupin but, he would be good.

"I assume that all of you are already fairly skilled in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Therefore, we will not study from books. We will learn with practical exercises and I have the perfect way to assess your knowledge. Not with a test! But with a trial. You will enter the Forbidden Forest in pairs and take on the course! You will also spend the night in there so you will need to look at spells which could aid you in this challenge. Yes, you can choose partners and both of you are required to defeat the obstacles. I will know if one of you works more than the other. You will be assessed individually even though you will be going through the course in twos. ANy questions?" Professor Allando said enthusiastically.

"Do we have to do it?" Terry said.

"Why would you want to miss it?" Professor Allando asked.

"If you're afraid that you might, um, die?" Terry squeaked.

"Ah! Forgot to mention that! If you think that you cannot complete the rest of the course, you need only to use the spell 'Perriculum' to send up a signal that you are in peril. You will be sent back to the start and will not be continuing the course." Professor Allando answered. Terry nodded.

"Are we being timed?" Astoria asked.

"Yes and no. You are going to be timed to get your score within your pair but, the real grade does not include the time. Your individual grade only is if you defeat the obstacles and with what spells you use." Professor Allando replied.

"When we go to sleep, what if we're eaten by one of the creatures in the Forbidden Forest?" Ernie asked.

"You must cast the spells to protect yourself, Mr. Macmillan. If you do not know these spells, I suggest you study them before the trial which is on October 1st." Professor Allando said.

"Go! You are dismissed." he said and the 12 eighth years left the classroom.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Ginny exclaimed. The group started talking about partners and, seeing as Hannah had left and Ron was still suspended, there had to be six pairs. By the end of the walk to Herbology, the pairs were Hermione & Draco, Ginny & Harry, Astoria & Ernie, Luna & Neville, Blaise & Justin, and Terry & Anthony.

"I feel like a loner. We don't have enough girls in this year! Draco, can I have Hermione?" Blaise whined when he figured out that he was the only one in their group of friends without a date.

"No! And don't try anything stupid like Weasel did. You'll just get yourself expelled and I kind of like having you as a friend." Draco said.

"I won't. I promise I won't be a Weasel." Blaise promised. Ginny loved her brother but, sometimes he was just a bad person. The twelve of them were at Herbology now and saw a happy Professor Sprout.

"Good afternoon! Now, we're going to be using Mandrakes, Venomous Tentacula, and Devil's Snare today. You will be in groups of four and will each work at that station to destroy that plant. Off you go! I trust you all remember this." Professor Sprout said. It was nice that the teachers all expected them to know these things and they didn't need to teach them step by step. Hermione got into a group with Ginny, Luna, and Astoria; Draco was with Neville, Blaise, and Harry; and Justin, Terry, Anthony, and Ernie were a group.

"Let's start with the Mandrakes." Hermione suggested. The girls walked over and began to transplant the screaming plants. They all had their earmuffs on but, Astoria fainted out of nowhere and Hermione cast a quick cushioning charm and Astoria hit the ground with a light thud. They finished transplanting the Mandrakes and by then, Astoria had recovered and was up to help with the Venomous Tentacula. It wasn't too hard, all that it took was a fast Lumos spell and then on too the Devil's Snare that Hermione had saved Harry and Ron from all of those years ago. The girls were trapped in the Devil's Snare. Ginny, not remembering that you had to be still, was fighting the tendrils and shaking around.

"Ginny! You need to relax! Trust me!" Hermione yelled from the bottom. Ginny did and came out of the Devil's Snare. Luna and Astoria popped out afterwards and fell safely onto the floor.

"LUMOS SOLEM!" Hermione yelled and the Devil's Snare disappeared. They climbed up back into the Herbology Greenhouse and had finished their stations.


	7. Chapter 7

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 7**

 **The Trial**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

The Trial was today and all of the eighth years were nervous. It started in the afternoon and ended early the next morning. They were all outside of the Forbidden Forest, waiting to enter the Forest.

"Ready? Steady? Go!" Professor Allando yelled and the twelve of them set off, ready to battle. The course was divided into six trails, one for each pair and all of them had different obstacles to make it interesting but all of the same level of difficulty to make it fair. Also, there were invisible walls that blocked out the sound from other pairs so they couldn't cheat by hearing someone else use a certain spell. Hermione and Draco were the first to encounter a creature (Professor Allando had also acted as a Care of Magical Creatures teacher because he warned them about coming face to face with dangerous magical creatures.). They had to jump into the pond and defeat all of the grindylows in side of it. They each cast a bubble-head charm and dived in. The water was freezing cold. Hermione shivered and the two were immediately ambushed by grindylows. The creatures pulled and pinched and scratched. Hermione and Draco cast 'Reducto' and 'Stupefy' and then all of them were still. They climbed out and cast a drying spell. They hurried on.

Ginny and Harry were battling some Doxys (which are also known as 'Biting Fairies').

"Stupefy!"

"Immobulus!"

"Evanesco!"

With that, the Doxys were gone and Harry and Ginny ran past the obstacle.

Astoria and Ernie were looking at a Flesh-Eating Slug. Astoria screamed. She had a fear of slugs and particularly ones that could eat your skin.

"Glacius!" she squeaked and the slug turned to ice.

"Bombarda!" Ernie yelled and the slug blasted into pieces. They smiled and went on to the next obstacle.

Terry and Anthony were staring at a wardrobe.

"What do we need to?" Terry asked.

"Maybe it's a Boggart." Anthony suggested. They climbed in, worried to see what the two of their worst fears combined were. The Boggart had taken the shape of a Basilisk and Acromantula. It hissed at them and crawled at them. They both screamed.

"RIDDIKULUS!" they shouted and the Boggart changed to Peeves pranking the teachers. They laughed and moved on.

Blaise and Justin were currently working on defeating an Imp that was trying to steal from their pockets. It kept distracting them and they weren't working very well with it.

"Use a spell!"

"I don't know what to do!"

"Incarcerous!"

The Imp went limp in the ropes that bound it. They ran to the next obstacle.

Luna and Neville were trying to stop a Niffler from taking all of the shiny things that it was allowed to steal for the obstacle.

"Brachiabindo!" Luna cried. The Niffler went still and was trapped in invisible ropes. It let go of all of the items and let them pass through. Obstacle cleared.

Hermione and Draco were in a Boggart chest together. They held hands, wondering what their fears would be. The Boggart took shape. Draco's fear was a dead Hermione and a dead Mrs. Malfoy. Hermione's was a strong Voldemort killing Draco and all of her friends. The Voldemort then aimed at her with the Killing Curse. Unable to cope with the sight, Draco started to cry onto the chest's floor. Hermione felt dead even though it was only a Boggart. It knocked her onto the floor and she tried to utter Riddikulus.

"Riddikulus." she whispered. The Boggart changed into a smiling Pygmy Puff and the two got blasted out of the chest. Draco's eyes were still leaking with tears.

"I'm sorry. It's just-" he started.

"Shhhhh. It's okay. It's only a Boggart." Hermione whispered gently. She kissed the top of his head and his lips met hers. They kissed until Draco wasn't crying anymore. They held hands as they went on to the next obstacle.

The eighth years were doing well. Obstacle after obstacle was cleared. Just when they thought that the Forbidden Forest couldn't get much darker, they all stumbled upon a sign which read: CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE FINISHED THIS PART OF THE COURSE. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO STAY HERE IN THE FOREST UNTIL YOU HAVE SLEPT TO YOUR COMFORT. The pairs relaxed and began to make a camp. Hermione stood up and walked around, saying spells that would protect her and Draco.

"Salvio hexia. Protego Maximum. Fianto Duri. Repello Inimicum. Cave inimicum." Hermione said. There were now protective barriers around Hermione and Draco. Having Muggle parents, Hermione had wisely chosen to bring a small pack with food in it and they ate the dinner quietly.

"I'm glad I chose to be partners with you. The smart one." Draco said. Hermione sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder. Draco rubbed her back. They both laid down on the now less dirty forest floor and fell asleep.

Harry went around and muttered different protective charms that he remembered Hermione using when they were searching for Horcruxes last year. Ginny seemed impressed with how much he could remember. He relaxed and laid down with Ginny. They fell asleep rather quickly, not even caring about not having any dinner.

Astoria and Ernie were doing their best to remember the spells that they'd studied from the books. They walked in a circle and made a protected area. They smiled and fell asleep soon after.

Terry and Anthony were hungry. Anthony tried to summon some food but, of course there was none. Maybe that's what Hermione had brought in her bag: food. She was clever, why wasn't she in Ravenclaw? he wondered. The boys set up some charms to protect them and then promptly fell asleep.

Blaise and Justin made a protective square of enchantments that could keep them alive throughout the night and then made a fire.

"I wish we had food. I'm hungry." Justin said.

"Well, Finch-Fletchley, that is what food is for. To make you not hungry." Blaise said. Justin rolled his eyes and went to sleep. Blaise did soon after.

Neville and Luna had had fun with making their enclosure. Luna had insisted to include some spells that would protect them from wrackspurts. Neville happily obliged and the two made an extra layer that would keep out wrackspurts. They smiled and fell asleep.

It was morning. All that was left to do was run through the finish line! All pairs ran as fast as they could. Except for Blaise and Justin. Blaise had slept in and now they were very far behind. They ran and ran until they saw all of the other pairs waiting for them at the finish. Justin made an accusing face at Blaise as they ran past the finish line.

"Unlucky, boys." Professor Allando said, smiling.

"I'll give you all the results next class. Thankk you and I hoped you all had fun!" he said and everybody walked back to the castle.

It was the end of class and, as Professor Allando had said, it was time for results. Everybody bubbled with excitement.

"The moment you've been waiting for! Results!" Professor Allando said, waving his wand through the air and revealed the results.

Pairs:

Hermione & Draco

Ginny & Harry

Neville & Luna

Anthony & Terry

Astoria & Ernie

Blaise & Justin

Individual:

Hermione

Ginny

Harry

Draco

Luna

Neville

Astoria

Ernie

Anthony

Justin

Terry

Blaise

Blaise seemed mad that he was last in both categories. However, he wasn't that surprised. He hadn't helped Justin a lot and had mostly been a bad teammate. Both of them argued more than they agreed. He shrugged off his pride and clapped for his friends.

"Well done to all of you! I'm glad that you got to do this. Now, you are dismissed!" Professor Allando said and let the eighth years go.


	8. Chapter 8

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 8**

 **Christmas Break**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

Hermione was nervous as she boarded the Hogwarts Express again. She would be meeting Draco's parents at Malfoy Manor.

"Don't worry. The place has changed a lot since last year. We've added brighter and lighter colors and the topiaries have changed to famous wizards and witches rather than wizards over muggles. Honestly, don't get worried." Draco reassured her. Hermione rested her head on his shoulder and fell asleep like that for the rest of the train journey.

They had stopped at the second to last stop of the train's route and walked to Malfoy Manor. The building was still dark and foreboding but Draco was right, the topiaries had changed and the statues of the 'Magic is Might' quote was gone. They walked inside.

"Mum! Dad!" Draco yelled through the near-empty house.

"Have you told them about me?" Hermione asked.

"No. Didn't want them to tell me to break up with you before they even met you." Draco said. Hermione nodded. Lucius came out and looked at Hermione.

"Narcissa! Draco's brought a girl home." Lucius called.

"Is Mum better?" Draco asked. Lucius nodded stiffly. Narcissa came out of a room and shook Hermione's hand.

"Aren't you lovely? What's your name?" Narcissa asked.

"Hermione Granger." Hermione replied.

"Granger? As in Dagworth-Granger?" Narcissa asked.

"No. Just Granger."

"I haven't heard of that name before. Are you a half-blood, dear?"

"No, I'm actually muggleborn."

"What? Draco! You must tell this girl to leave. We may not be affiliated with the Dark Lord anymore but, we are still purebloods! Come back with a different girl. What was wrong with one of the Greengrass sisters?"

"NO! I knew you would say that! She's not leaving until you at least get to know her. Please." Draco said.

"Fine. But, I get to test her to see if she is worthy enough for my son or not." Narcissa said, hatching a plan.

"What? That's not-" Draco began.

"She either takes the test, or goes away."

"FINE!" Draco shouted. He went to go show Hermione a room when Narcissa stopped him.

"No, dear. I will show her a room. Come with me, Hermione." Narcissa said. Hermione held out her hand to Draco but it was too late.

"You'll be sleeping in here." Narcissa said, gesturing to a small and dirty room. Hermione politely thanked her and asked if she might have some food.

"Yes! Here." Narcissa snapped her fingers and a house elf came bringing bread and water.

"Will I get to see Draco at all?" Hermione asked.

"Oh. Early every morning and at night. But not this night, you've already seen him." Narcissa answered. Then she shut the door. Hermione was confused and mad. She ate her meal and then went to bed.

"Hermione! How's it going?" Draco asked.

"Horribly. Your mum hates me and she's given me a tiny room and it's probably the dirtiest room in the whole house. I'm sorry." Hermione admitted. Draco nodded.

"Draco, we're going to be testing soon. You can go somewhere else, please." Narcissa said. She grabbed Hermione's wrist and dragged her to a room.

"First test of the day! Dressing. All pureblood girls must know how to dress. All you need to do is pick an outfit that you would wear at a formal ball. I'll let you know when you've found the right ensemble. Let's see how many tries it takes." Narcissa said, opening a door that led to a room full of dresses. Hermione looked through the dresses nervously and picked an outfit.

"Let's see. Floor-length dress, no jewelry, no makeup, no hairstyle. Go try again." Narcissa criticized, even though she thought that the girl did look good in it. However, Narcissa was blinded by her pureblood status. Hermione went back into the room and chose a red dress that went to her knees. She applied mascara, eye shadow, and lipstick and pulled her hair back into a twist. She waited for Narcissa to talk.

"You don't need to go around looking like a clown. Go back." Narcissa complained. It took Hermione several tries until Narcissa got tired of the Dress Test. They moved on.

"How well can you do at the Table Test." Narcissa said. Hermione looked at all of the silverware and the fancy food that she was going to eat. Hermione cut her Brussel Sprouts (Narcissa said that she was cutting for too long). Hermione took a bite of her roasted potatoes (too big of a bite). It went on like this for another twenty minutes and then went on to the next test.

By evening, the tests had finished. Hermione got to see Draco and the two were waiting on the verdict of if she had passed the tests or not. Hermione clung to Draco and didn't want to let go.

"You failed miserably at all of them. A girl who is going to be with my son must be good enough for me as well. Draco, say goodbye to your Miss Granger." Narcissa said emotionless.

"What?" Draco said angrily.

"You heard me." Narcissa said.

"Please! No! Do anything to me! Anything at all! Cast the Cruciatus Curse on me! I can't possibly live without him. Please." Hermione begged.

"Even if I did use Crucio on you, my son would still be dating a mudblood." Narcissa insisted.

"No. I won't let you separate us! I'll run away and you can dismember me from the family. I don't care!" Draco shouted.

"Don't yell at your mother!" Lucius said fiercely.

"Draco, don't. It's not worth you getting dismembered from your family. There are plenty of other girls anyway." Hermione said as bravely as she could.

"Let me say goodbye then." Draco said. They kissed long and hard. Then, Hermione was forced out of Malfoy Manor.

Hermione was miserable. She couldn't possibly go back to Hogwarts. She couldn't go anywhere. She decided to go to a muggle hotel and stay there for the rest of her Christmas Break. She checked in and flopped onto her bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Draco was livid. He hated that his parents still cared about blood statuses. Now, he would never be able to date the girl he truly loved.

"Draco, it's not worth getting angry about." Lucius said tiredly.

"OF COURSE IT IS! I LOVE HER AND YOU CARE TO MUCH ABOUT BLOOD TO CARE ABOUT ANYTHING! YOU CAN'T TELL NOT GET ANGRY ABOUT LOVE! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT LOVE IS. YOU ONLY MARRIED MUM BECAUSE SHE WAS A PUREBLOOD." Draco raged.

"Draco, darling, what's the matter?" Narcissa asked worriedly. Draco stared at her angrily and went up to his room and cried himself to sleep.

It was Christmas Day and Hermione had nobody to spend it with. Nothing mattered anymore. Not if Draco wasn't with her. And now he never would be.

"Draco! Please come downstairs. It's Christmas morning." Narcissa called.

"I don't want to and I don't care." Draco said from his room.

"He really does love that girl." Narcissa said sadly.

"Yes. She and Harry Potter were best friends. I remember her a lot. She is very clever and it would do Draco some good to have a girl who can look out for him. Admit it, Narcissa. You don't hate the girl, do you?" Lucius said.

"No, I suppose I don't. It's just, I've always been raised to know that anyone besides a pureblood is unfit to be with anybody but a pureblood. I want my Draco to be happy. She should be the one to be with him." Narcissa agreed. She didn't agree with the way Draco had spoken to his father earlier but, it was all out of love.

"Draco! Please come out of your room. I've changed my mind. You and Hermione should be together." Narcissa said.

"Seriously?" Draco asked as her practically ran down the stairs. Narcissa sent her Patronus to send the message to Hermione.

Hermione was lying on her bed awake. Her tears had dried but she could feel a fresh stream coming on. Suddenly, a Black Mamba Patronus entered her room. It said: Come to Malfoy Manor. Hermione immediately packed her bags and Apparated to the manor.

"Hermione, I'm so sorry. You and Draco are clearly meant for one another. I'm ashamed that I put blood status before love." Narcissa said. Hermione ran towards Draco and they kissed passionately, happy that they were back together again.

"I got the best Christmas present ever today." Draco said.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"You."


	9. Chapter 9

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 9**

 **Love is in the Air**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

"Nervous, Potter?" Draco asked.

"Ha! Of course. But she couldn't possibly say no." Harry replied confidently.

"Don't get cocky." Draco warned. Tonight was a Hogsmeade trip. A very special trip. It was early evening and all of the eighth years were gathered around the carriages.

"Four to a carriage! Everybody in!" Professor McGonagall shouted. Draco, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny piled into a carriage. The sky was white and it was snowing lightly. It felt like Christmas all over again.

"So, we're going to The Three Broomsticks for dinner?" Ginny asked.

"Yup. And _don't_ worry about the bill. We'll take care of that." Draco added, pointing to Harry and himself. The ride came to a smooth end.

"After you!" Harry said, opening the door for Ginny and Hermione.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Do you mean that we can't be nice without you questioning us?" Draco asked, pretending to be offended. Ginny and Hermione shared a look, shrugged and began to walk around the snowy town.

"Smooth save, Malfoy." Harry said.

"Potter, you're talking to the king of smoothness. Expect nothing less." Draco said haughtily.

"I thought Hermione made you promise to be nice to me."

"Where'd you hear that?"

"From the ears of an angel."

"Ha! Come on, let's go catch up to the girls."

After about an hour of shopping, it was finally dinner. Ginny and Hermione sent their purchases back to Hogwarts via owl and set off for The Three Broomsticks.

"Have you made a reservation?" a man at the front asked.

"Yes. Under the name 'Malfoy'." Draco answered. The man pulled up a scroll of parchment paper.

"Sorry, sir, repeat your name to the scroll, please." he said.

"Malfoy." The scroll shook a little bit and then rolled down to Draco's name.

"Perfect! Right this way." the man said, leading the four to a table by the window. He handed them some menus and left them.

"Everything looks so good!" Ginny exclaimed, eyeing a steak and ale pie.

"Ooh! They have Bouillabaisse!" Hermione said, smiling.

"What's that? It sounds like a sneeze." Ginny asked.

"It's a French fish stew." Hermione answered.

"Oh. I think that I'll stick to my steak and ale pie!" Ginny said.

"You can have whatever you want. I'm going to have the fish and chips." Harry said.

"Are you ready to order?" a waiter asked.

"Yes. I'll start. I'll have your fish and chips." Harry replied.

"I'll have the steak and ale pie with Yorkshire pudding and peas." Ginny said.

"I'll have the bangers and mash." Draco ordered.

"And I will have the Bouillabaisse." Hermione answered.

"Thank you. I will be back shortly."

The food had come and the group were tucking in.

"This is amazing!"

"Perfectly cooked!"

"Delicious!"

"Absolutely brilliant!

About an hour later, the group had finished eating and were outside in the snow. Draco nodded at Harry.

"We'll meet you back here at the end of the trip!" Harry called.

"Oh, alright then!" Hermione said back. The couples linked arms and walked their separate ways.

"Where are we going?" Ginny asked with Harry's hands over her eyes.

"You'll see." Harry said mischievously. They walked on for a few more paces and then stopped. Harry took his hands away.

"Wow! It's beautiful!" Ginny exclaimed happily. They were standing on a snow-covered hill which overlooked a grand view of a snowy Hogwarts. They kissed as snow gently flittered down.

"I knew that you and Draco were up to something!" Ginny smiled.

"That's not all, Gin." Harry said, bending down. Ginny gasped and covered her mouth.

"Will you, Ginny Molly Weasley, be my wife?" Harry asked. He gulped as he waited for her answer.

"YES!" Ginny screamed. Harry swept his fiancée into a long kiss and placed the ring upon her finger.

"Are we there yet?" Hermione asked impatiently.

"No! Almost, though." Draco answered. He tugged on her hand and guided her through the quiet streets. Then the journey came to a stop. Hermione opened her eyes.

"A hedge?" Hermione asked with an eyebrow raised. Draco didn't reply. He muttered a spell and the hedge opened. Inside of the hedge was a secret magic garden. There was a pond with crystalline waters; a tree with silver leaves; a frozen fountain, the water was sprayed out into an elegant ice pattern; and even more.

"It's wonderful!" she cried.

"Ginny and I knew that you two had something besides dinner planned!" Hermione continued. Draco smiled and let her look around some more.

"Should we go back now?" Hermione asked after having her fill.

"Soon, but not yet." Draco answered.

"Well, what else do we have to do?" Hermione asked curiously.

"This." Draco said, getting on to one knee. Hermione shook her head in disbelief. Draco pulled out a box and held it up into the moon light.

"Hermione Jean Granger, will you marry me?"

"Yes! Yes! I will!" Hermione yelled, jumping up and down. She flung her arms around her fiancé, knocking him to the ground and on top of the snow. She kissed him lovingly and Draco placed the emerald ring on Hermione's finger.

Hermione, Draco, Ginny, and Harry were sitting in a carriage together. Hermione and Ginny were talking very quickly so that it was hard to understand them.

"Successful?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"Yeah. I think so." Harry said happily.

Hermione had invited Harry to come to the Heads and Prefects Commons so that everyone would be able to see the engaged couples. Ginny burst through and announced loudly:

"I'M GETTING MARRIED!"

Luna, Astoria, Blaise, Justin, Ernie, Neville, and Anthony turned their heads. Then they clapped, cheered, and whooped. Blaise walked over to Draco.

"And you didn't propose? I get it, you guys have only been dating for a few months." he said. Hermione showed him her finger.

"Aha! Knew it. I just wonder how long this relationship will last..." Blaise said. Draco smacked him on the arm.

"Ow! Okay! It'll last forever!"

"That's better." Hermione smiled.


	10. Chapter 10

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 10**

 **Unwelcome Guests**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

It was the morning after the Engagement Night and all of the eighth years were in the Great Hall, eating breakfast.

"So, what did you all do last night while we were gone?" Harry asked.

"Well, Astoria and I are really enjoying being together and we just spent the whole night together." Ernie said cheerfully.

"And Luna and I are finding that we like each other's company and so we went on a walk together and spent the rest of the evening with one another." Neville said.

"That's brilliant!" Hermione said, helping herself to some more toast. Professor McGonagall dismissed them and they walked upstairs to the common room.

"I've realized that the eighth year House Commons are rather empty. Since so few people came back, two are completely empty." Ginny sighed.

"Yeah, Hufflepuff and Slytherin are empty. For Ravenclaw, the only one there is Terry. Poor chap. I go down there sometimes so that he won't feel completely lonely. I don't want anybody else to quit eighth year." Anthony said sadly.

"Ron and I are the only ones in the Gryffindor Commons. It feels awkward most of the time." Harry said.

"I've got it!" Blaise said.

"What?" everybody asked.

"We just ask Professor McGonagall to make the Heads and Prefects Commons and Dormitories the Common Room and Dormitories for everybody! Surely she won't mind!" Blaise said.

"Of course! Who should ask?" Hermione asked.

"You. She'll say yes to you more likely than she would to anyone else here." Blaise said. Everybody else nodded their heads. Hermione took a deep breath and went to find Professor McGonagall.

"Professor?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, yes?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I was wondering if maybe you could allow all of the eighth years to share the same common room and dormitories. Terry is the only one in the Ravenclaw common room and dormitory and Harry and Ron are the only ones in the Gryffindor ones. Barely anyone came back for eighth year and we thought that it would feel less empty if we were all together." Hermione said.

"Of course! Yes, I can do that. I wanted to do that anyway because I saw how few students had returned. I was just wondering how long it would take for one of you to ask me. Yes, dear. Most certainly. I will inform Mr. Weasley when he returns." Professor McGonagall answered. Hermione walked off to tell everyone and collected Terry on the way.

"We can! She said yes!" Hermione announced.

"Yeah!" they all shouted in unison. Anthony and Terry high-fived and started talking. A flash of light appeared and more beds materialized.

It was early evening and Professor McGonagall looked out her window. Suddenly, black flying clouds erupted out of the sky. They shot like bullets and transformed into people upon touching the ground. When the world had thought that all evil was extinguished, Death Eaters had to come along and spoil it all.

"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS! DEATH EATERS ARE OUTSIDE OF HOGWARTS AND YOU MUST BE CAREFUL! THIRD YEARS AND UP ARE ALLOWED TO STAY. FIRST AND SECOND YEARS, PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING WITH YOUR HEADS OF HOUSE!" Professor McGonagall announced. The eighth years were shocked. Where were the Death Eaters even coming from? Weren't they all dead? Harry and Hermione shared a look and then beckoned to the others to follow them. They ran downstairs and into the Great Hall. The front doors were being locked but it didn't seem to be working. The Death Eaters were yelling curses and incantations that were prohibiting the locks from locking. On the tenth spell, the door flew open and twelve Death Eaters stood outside. One Death Eater for each eighth year.

"How many of them are there?" Harry asked.

"Twelve? Yeah, twelve." Hermione answered.

"But that's one for each of us!" Terry cried.

"I know, and you're all great duelers. Right?" Harry said. Some nodded and some looked at him uncertainly.

"Well, you all know spells right?" Harry asked, annoyed. Now everybody nodded.

"Good. We're going to open these doors-"

"Open the doors? No! We're trying to stay alive! I'm sorry, Harry, but not all of us are as brave as you!" Astoria said and looked down, ashamed. Harry tried not to show his exasperation.

"Fine! Anyone who wants to fight can follow me."

Hermione, Ginny, Draco, Luna, Neville, and Blaise followed Harry. Harry opened the doors of the Great Hall and faced the Death Eaters.

"Just who we were looking for! Voldemort's little Potter!" one of them shrieked.

"Voldemort is dead! I killed him." Harry shouted.

"Ah, but we're still alive. Here to carry out his work. Destroying the muggle world, killing anyone but purebloods, you understand don't you?" another said.

"About that, how are you still alive? I though all of the Death Eaters died in the Battle of Hogwarts." Neville asked.

"You think a bunch of little kids could kill us?" a Death Eater asked.

"Well a 'little kid' killed Voldemort!" Neville retorted.

"He had help, didn't he? Once we kill off his friends, he won't have anyone to rely on. We are still alive because nobody killed us. We all look the same with these masks on. All we had to do was play dead and then no one touched us. Cowardly, perhaps. Clever, yes. And now we're back." the Death Eater explained.

"We can still beat you!" Neville shouted.

"You're outnumbered, Longbottom. Twelve of us and only seven of you."

"That doesn't mean you'll win. We destroyed you once and we can do it again." Luna added.

"Then try!"

"Avada Kedavra!" they shouted in unison, aiming at the seven. They all rolled under the green light. It was madness now. They split up and ran to different places in Hogwarts.

Harry had two Death Eaters chasing after him.

"Crucio!"

Harry fell and tripped over a rock. The spell hit him and Harry screamed in agony. The other Death Eater waited until the spell had worn off.

"Stupefy!"

The spell would have hit Harry in the chest but didn't because he rolled away from it. He had run to the Black Lake. Harry slid into the water and waited until the Death Eaters were in a good position.

"Ascendio!" he shouted. Harry flew up into the air.

"Stupefy! Stupefy!" Harry said, still airborne. The spell hit the two in the chest and both fell onto their backs simultaneously.

"Evanesco." Harry said and both bodies disappeared. He was lucky that he had defeated them. Two down, ten to go.

Hermione's Death Eaters were chasing her up the stairs.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Hermione ducked.

"Crucio!"

Hermione dodged.

"Crucio!"

That one hit Hermione on the back and she writhed in pain. The spell made her fall down the stairs. She tumbled all the way to the bottom with bruises all over. She muttered a quick Episkey and carried on.

"Brachiabindo! Immobulus! Glacius Tria!" she fired. Not realizing that she was still alive, the Death Eaters were immediately bound in ropes and stuck in blocks of thick ice.

"Bombarda!" Hermione yelled and the two ice blocks exploded.

Ginny was running as fast as she could. Only one Death Eater was going after her. Blasts of light went back and forth from the two.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Ginny dodged it.

"Incarcerous!"

Ginny fell and was stuck in ropes.

"Not so strong today, are we?" the Death Eater said.

"I'm plenty strong!" Ginny fired back.

"I'm going to leave you here. I'll ask the others if it's worth killing you or not." it said. The Death Eater left and let Ginny wallow in a helpless mindset.

"Would you look at that? It's Master Malfoy! And why, sir, would you be here to fight us? Your parents did serve the Dark Lord, after all. I heard a rumor that they only stopped because he wasn't treating you very well. Am I correct? Are you so special that your parents would stop their life's devotion for a boy?" one of Draco's Death Eaters rambled.

"Yes. Sort of." he answered.

"Well, that still doesn't explain why you're here right now."

"I'm fighting you because I have changed! You do bad things to innocent people. At least, you supported someone who did."

"Let's get on with it, shall we?" the Death Eater said menacingly.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Draco was not even an inch away from death. He realized that he wasn't as strong a dueler as he thought.

"Imperio!" the other Death Eater shrieked. It hit Draco right in the chest, making him sprawl on the floor. He regained consciousness and realized that he no longer had control of his body. It dawned on him that the curse was the Imperio Curse, the third of the Unforgivable Curses. The curse that allowed the caster to control its target's body.

"Hunt down the other people in your year who are also fighting against us." the Death Eater ordered. Draco didn't want to, but couldn't resist. He set off in search of his friends.

Luna was fighting as best as she could but it didn't appear to be enough.

"Stupefy!"

Duck.

"Levicorpus!"

Dodge.

Nothing worked.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Luna just missed it.

"Glacius!"

Of course, both of her Death Eaters avoided it somehow.

"Crucio!"

Luna fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of her stomach. After what seemed like years of torture, the Death Eaters left her and left discussing whether or not it would be good to kill her.

Neville was getting tired. None of his Death Eaters were getting hit by any of his curses. He wasn't getting hit by any of theirs, either.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Neville dodged it as fast as possible.

"Crucio!"

Neville got struck in the head and fell down with a hard thud. The curse ended and Neville sat up and rubbed his head. When they weren't looking, Neville uttered the full body-bind curse and the two fell over.

"Evanesco!"

The bodies were gone.

Blaise rounded a corner to find himself face to face with two Death Eaters.

"Hey! It's Zabini!" one called.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be helping us?" the other asked.

"No. Voldemort's dead! You must be stupid to carry on doing this. You're going to get killed. All of you. Besides, I've got some new friends who I used to look down on. It just goes to show that people change." Blaise said in a bossy sort of tone.

"Right, yeah. Okay. Let's duel then!" a Death Eater said.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Blaise was ready for that one. He ducked and let the spell fly off elsewhere.

"Crucio!"

Blaise had no time to dodge then. The spell hit him. He was flung into the wall, shaking with pain.

"Imperio!"

All three Unforgivable Curses? Blaise felt-. Nothing. Blaise felt nothing. Now that he was under the Imperius Curse, he could be controlled.

"Go kill the other ones who are fighting us. Only the ones in your year!"

Blaise blindly obeyed and walked off to hunt.

"Hermione! Neville! Ginny! Luna!" Harry exclaimed.

"Harry!" they all shouted at once. All five of them hugged.

"I'm guessing Malfoy and Zabini decided to go back to old Voldy's side." Harry said, unsurprised.

"Actually, I'm not so sure they did." Ginny said.

"Well where are they?" Harry asked.

"We'll split up. Again. Go, try and find them!" Neville said, already heading off.

Luna ran up the stairs to the Ravenclaw Commons in search of the two.

"AVADA KED-" Blaise began. Luna cast Stupefy on him. What could be going on? Maybe Harry was right and they had betrayed them. Luna left him there just in case.

Ginny went to the dungeons to see if either of the boys had been there. Sure enough, Draco was waiting.

"What are you doing here? Everyone was worried about you! Or, almost worried." Ginny said bossily.

"Going to kill you. AVADA KEDAVRA!" Draco yelled.

"Woah!" Ginny said moving her position slightly. Draco kept aiming at Ginny with all sorts of curses but she was able to dodge most of them. Draco soon tired of the game and went on to find the others. Ginny lifted her head up and saw him leaving. Why hadn't she agreed with Harry?

"Draco! Blaise! Come on! You can't be dead!" Neville shouted. He paused for breath.

"Expelliarmus!" Blaise shouted. Neville lost his wand.

"Blaise?" he asked.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he said in a singsong kind of voice. Neville missed it by an inch as he tried to find his wand. He grabbed it and dueled with Blaise.

"Levicorpus!"

"Sectusempra!"

"Stupefy!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Crucio!"

"Glacius!"

"Bombarda!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

The boys were panting now. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Blaise non-verbally said: 'Stupefy!' and Neville felt his eyelids drooping and his back aching. He wasn't dead. He wasn't dead. He wasn't...

Harry ran to the classrooms. No sign of Blaise or Draco yet.

"Stupefy!"

Harry got hit. He tumbled forward and swore; his glasses were broken and his nose was bleeding.

"Occulus Reparo. Episkey." he said and thanked his lucky stars that he had met Hermione all of those years ago.

"Not going to get up, Potter?" Blaise asked.

"Believe me, you'd know if I was dead." Harry retorted.

"Yeah? AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"What is wrong with you? You were helping us!"

"No, not anymore."

"Well, get on with it. Kill me."

"Nah. You'll just waste my energy. But I can do this: Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!"

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

Blaise smirked and left.

There was only one more of the five left to find: Hermione. He ran. And ran. And ran. Until he came face-to-face with the person he was looking for.

"Draco! Oh, I was so worried about you!" Hermione cried, moving to hug him.

"Really? That's nice. Avada Kedavra!" Draco said, missing Hermione by only a few millimeters.

"What do you think you're doing? If this is some kind of joke, Draco, it's not funny."

"No, no joke. Crucio!" he yelled, aiming better this time. Hermione was blasted backwards, screaming.

"Draco, stop. Please." Hermione said sobbing.

"Crucio! Sectusempra! Crucio!" Draco taunted. Hermione was lying on the floor in a small pool of blood, unconscious. Draco looked satisfied with his work and stalked off to find the Death Eaters.

"I did it." Draco said proudly.

"And Zabini?"

"Yeah." Blaise said.

"Killed them all?"

"No." they both said.

"What? Never mind, they're probably as good as dead. Now, I must get going. Finite!"

The boys were released from their Imperius Curse.

"What are we doing here?"

"Did the others die?"

"No! Wait! It was the Imperius Curse, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Well, let's go find the others."

"Yeah."

"Do you remember doing anything while you were under the curse?"

"Nope, not a thing."

"Me either."

They walked faster.

"What were you doing? You tried to kill us! All of us!" Harry yelled.

"We did?"

"YES!" they all shouted unanimously.

"That's what we did under the Imperius Curse!" Blaise realized.

"Imperius Curse?" Ginny asked.

"Yes. For some reason, our Death Eaters cast the Imperius Curse on me and Blaise." Draco said.

"Oh, that makes sense." Luna said.

"Great. Let's go tell Professor McGonagall that the Death Eaters are all gone." Harry decided.

"Not yet. You're forgetting someone." Neville said.

"What? Who?" Harry asked.

"Neville's right. Where's Hermione?" Luna asked.

"Hermione! Come on! We've got to go find her! Let's-"

"Split up? Yeah, on it." Ginny finished, already running.

"Hermione! Hermione!" Draco shouted. She didn't respond. He searched everywhere, but couldn't find her. He tried remembering where he had gone under the curse but he couldn't. Suddenly, just by the Charms classroom, he saw her. She was lying on the ground, bloodied and beaten up.

"Hermione! Oh thank Merlin!" Draco said running towards her. She was unconscious, but still alive. He picked her up and kissed her as he carried her to the Hospital Wing.

"HERMIONE! You're alright!" Ginny shouted, earning a look from Madam Pomfrey.

"Yeah, I am."

The girls hugged.

"Let's get you back to the common room." Ginny said happily. Hermione thanked Madam Pomfrey and left with Ginny.

"Hermione!" everyone shouted.

"It's good to have you back." Harry smiled.

"Thanks. I'm happy that I am." Hermione smiled back.


	11. Chapter 11

**THE EIGHTH YEAR**

 **CHAPTER 11**

 **Epilogue**

 **By: hermioneeeeeee**

 **A/N: I'm sorry if you think that the story was skipped ahead too much but, I don't think that I could've written anything else interesting about the rest of their year.**

"Ready for the big day?" Hermione smiled.

"Yep! Double wedding, how romantic." Ginny said.

"It's going to be exciting, isn't it?"

"For sure."

"All we have to do now is..."

"Walk down the aisle?"

"Get married."

"Easy?"

"No, but brilliant."

The girls walked down the aisle gracefully and said their vows. Hermione and Ginny kissed their new husbands and smiled at all of the possibilities their new future would hold.


End file.
